


Chorus Rehearsal

by AirgiodSLV



Series: 28 Lotrips AUs Challenge [1]
Category: The Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-17
Updated: 2006-04-17
Packaged: 2019-07-20 12:11:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16136969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AirgiodSLV/pseuds/AirgiodSLV
Summary: “No one is really sure how the Greeks did things,” Sean spoke up a bit desperately. “This is just ourinterpretation, so we’ll set it today and forget about everything we did last time.”





	Chorus Rehearsal

**Author's Note:**

> AU #16 for [](https://bexone.livejournal.com/profile)[bexone](https://bexone.livejournal.com/), going for the bonus points.

“Advance, true hearts…”

“No! No, that’s not…” The assistant director, Sean Astin from NY Stage, looked ready to pull his hair out. He took a moment to settle, reviewed his paperwork, and helpfully banged the proper rhythm into the top of his rickety table. “Ad- _vance_ , true _hearts_ …You’re a chorus, you need to stay together, everyone on the beat.”

“I thought we were staying away from the iambic,” Billy spoke up in confusion, fussing with the sleeve of his rehearsal robe as it became wrapped around his choral staff.

“Not for this part. This is…”

“We broke up the rhythm last time,” spoke up the hotshot kid from America, looking and sounding bored in spite of the fact that he was the only one here on drama scholarship. “Ad- _vance_ , beat-beat _true_ hearts ad- _vance_.”

“Did it sound like that last time?” Billy asked his processional partner, who was looking slightly distracted on account of the American kid with the big blue eyes. “I don’t remember.”

“Yes, because we step…” Elijah the American demonstrated with proper processional grace, performing a mini-version of the choral entrance by weaving through the other chorus members.

“That looks right,” Billy admitted dubiously. Sean the AD was frantically flipping through his notes, looking frazzled. Beside Billy, Dom yawned. It was ten o’clock on a Saturday morning and they’d been at this for an hour already. Things were not looking hopefully for an early dismissal and an afternoon off outside in the rare sunshine before the principal rehearsal tonight.

“It…fuck!” Elijah snarled as the hem of his rehearsal robe tripped him up – again – and he nearly face-planted into the row of chairs set up to mark out the location of the half-wall. “Fucking piece of…”

“Full _well_ beat-beat _you’ve_ supped to- _night_ ,” one of the other chorus members sang, and Billy glanced back to see curly-topped Orlando dancing somewhat awkwardly but obviously with purpose around the music stand set up to mark placement of a pillar. He nudged Dom to pay attention, and caught the tail end of Dom making eyes at the American kid.

“No one is really sure how the Greeks did things,” Sean spoke up a bit desperately. “This is just our _interpretation_ , so we’ll set it today and forget about everything we did last time.”

“That’s stupid,” Elijah muttered, loud enough to be heard but not singled out. Dom started drifting in Elijah’s direction and Billy firmly stomped on his foot to keep him in line.

“ _March_ , chan-ting-loud-your _lays_ ,” Orlando crowed, stepping into the twirl that looked graceful on him, as a tall person, but fairly ridiculous from the rest of them. Billy knew that part was right, he dreaded it every time.

“No, that’s a whole new section, section B, and the rhythm and dance are different from section A,” Sean protested, marching purposefully towards Orlando’s chorus group with a sheaf of diagrams clutched tightly in his hand.

“Is there a water table set up?” Elijah asked. The boredom in his tone had increased, accompanied now by some frostiness due to the tripping incident. Billy considered the sleep he could have been having right at this very moment and sighed.

He met the eyes of Phillippa the stage manager, who was sitting placidly behind her table with pencil in hand, waiting for someone to make a decision worthy of taking notes on. She returned his look with perfect calmness, but when he cast her a despairing ‘help us, please’ look, she ducked her head and he saw the creeping upturned corners of a smile.

“Again!” Sean cried, heading back to the safety of his rickety table. Billy sighed and looked around for Dom, then frowned. Where was…?

Orlando was the one who gave it away; he followed Orlando’s eyeline to the alcove mostly-hidden by the stacked set pieces for scene three and saw two figures wrapped around each other in a more familiar way than even the Greeks probably would have considered appropriate for a chorus rehearsal.

“Ad- _vance,_ ” Sean began loudly, banging out the rhythm (fairly inaccurately, if Orlando’s and Elijah’s version was correct, and they were generally the two to watch) on the table. It creaked and one side started to fall, prompting the ever-cool Phillippa to leap up immediately and begin fixing it while Sean yelped and made a desperate grab for his precious papers.

“Here we go,” someone sighed behind Billy, and Dom made a vague movement towards returning to his place, aborted when Elijah wrapped both arms around him and pulled him back as the table crashed yet again to the floor.

“Ad-vance-true-hearts-ad-vance,” Orlando sang at a speed which Billy was physically incapable of, and Billy finally gave up, rucked his rehearsal robe up around his knees and stomped over to sit on the ‘half-wall’ of chairs.

Some days, acting wasn’t worth getting out of bed in the morning.


End file.
